Engaging Scripture

What approach to marriage roles does God desire? – Colossians 3:18-21, Part 2

*Photo by Tower Paddle Boards on Unsplash*

As we saw in the previous post, Paul wrote that it is fitting to the Lord that Christian wives and Christian husbands, when it comes to roles in marriage, were to practice “wives submit, husbands lead.” In that First-century Greco-Roman culture it just so happened that this dictum was in line with that society’s standards for marriage relationships.

Except that’s not all Paul said. I haven’t mentioned this a whole lot thus far in the Colossians series, but Paul wrote another letter right around the same time he wrote Colossians. If you ever compare Colossians with his letter to the Ephesians, you see passages that are incredibly similar. Keep your finger in Colossians 3, and turn to Ephesians 5:22-6:9. We’re going to flip back and forth between the two.

What do you notice when you compare the two passages? They say the same thing, but Ephesians has more detail. Look at Ephesians 5:22. It’s nearly identical to Colossians 3:18. Now scan ahead to Ephesians 5, verses 23-24. There Paul makes a theological case for why husbands are the heads or leaders of their wives. Just as Jesus is head of the church, Paul writes, the husband is the head of the wife. Through the centuries, biblical scholars and theologians have made a strong argument using this passage that male leadership and female submission is God’s design for all marriages for all times and places.

Clearly, Paul’s description of “wives submit, husbands lead,” and his rationale for those roles in marriage worked well in his culture, because that culture was already practicing those precise roles. Of course, the Greco-Roman patriarchal culture did not practice male leadership and female submission in marriage because they wanted to follow God’s design. That was just the way that culture had developed. Nearly all cultures through history have developed that way. But not all. There have been some matriarchal cultures, but they tend to be far and few between.

How would you describe our contemporary American culture? Are we patriarchal or matriarchal or egalitarian, which is an approach where men and women are equal in every way? Historically, America was patriarchal, but we have moved toward the egalitarian approach. I doubt anyone would say we are entirely egalitarian, but we we have certainly moved in that direction. Think about the iconic 1950s family: the husband goes to work, and the wife stays at home to raise the kids, clean the house, and prepare meals. It seems like a relic from an ancient past. Sure, it is still the case in some families, but less and less.

But Paul is writing to Christians, not to the Greco-Roman culture. That’s an important distinction. He is simply saying that these marriage roles are for Christians. When we look at state of the contemporary American Christian marriage, can we say that our marriages are in line with Paul has written here? “Husbands, lead. Wives, submit.” Or is it okay if we do things differently because our culture is different?

The big question when looking at passages like this one is whether we are to understand them as applicable and binding for all Christians everywhere all the time, or if we are to understand this principle as Paul writing for that church in that time and place.

In other words, should Christians living in a culture that is becoming more and more egalitarian look at Colossians and Ephesians and say, “Well wives, in order to be faithful to the Lord, your husband is your leader, and you submit to him”? It doesn’t matter that this goes against our larger culture, you do it. You are to be different from the culture. There are plenty of things we Christians practice that go against our larger culture. We should be ready and willing to do what God says rather than what our society says. As the apostles in the early church said, “We obey God rather than men.”

But some people look at this passage and disagree, saying that Paul only wrote this because those first century Christians were living in a patriarchal culture. Some people claim that if Paul were writing to our more egalitarian culture, he would have written something like, “Submit to one another.”

I have a surprise for you. Look at Ephesians 5:21. There Paul writes, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Paul DID write, “Submit to one another”!!! And he wrote that to people in a patriarchal culture! Submission in marriage is to be mutual. Both submit to each other! Are you thinking, “Wait a minute. Then why didn’t Paul write that in Colossians?”

Check back in to the next post, and we’ll talk about that further.

Husbands who won’t lead and wives who won’t follow – Colossians 3:18-21, Part 1

When my wife, Michelle, and I were dating, we found a book in the in the library titled Husbands Who Won’t Lead And Wives Who Won’t Follow. The book had a lot of good material in it, but the title alone illustrates that marriage relationships might not work out so smoothly all the time. This week on the blog, I hope we can make some progress discussing that topic and more.

Turn to Colossians 3:18-21. After teaching that we should do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, Paul illustrates this by describing how Christians should live as members of the community of peaceful love in the places where you live, work, study and serve. As I worked on this sermon, initially intending to cover Colossians 3:18-4:1, the sermon got longer and longer and longer. The passage is only nine verses and some of them are really short, but Paul is typical Paul, packing a lot into a small space. So I decided to split this in two. This week on the blog, we’ll study part one, all about marriage and family, and next week will be part two about work. For those of you who are students or retirees, next week will be for you too, because the principles Paul teaches apply to everyone. So today, we’re just covering Colossians 3:18-21, focusing on marriage and family. Go ahead and read those verses and then return to blog post.

Paul dives right in, as he writes in verse 18, “Wives, you all be subject [or submit] to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.” This is one of those Bible verses that just sounds antiquated to our contemporary Western ears doesn’t it? Wives submit?

I have heard many times that this is not so antiquated or misogynistic as it might seem, IF the husbands do what Paul writes in verse 19, love their wives. I’ve heard that if the husbands are loving as they are supposed to, then it will be easy for the wives to submit. Almost as if wives who feel loved will be begging to submit.

I don’t know about that.

The word that Paul uses, “submit” or “be subject to,” is defined as “to submit to the orders or directives of someone.” (Louw & Nida) Sounds like a military term, doesn’t it? Paul was describing a situation where husbands had some kind of leadership role over their wives, and the wives were to obey, to submit. Years ago, traditional wedding vows actually had the wife committing to obey her husband! If the husband made a decision, the wife was to follow it. Furthermore, Paul said this arrangement is fitting in the Lord. This gives us the impression that it was God’s will for these marriage roles.

How do you feel about that? Husbands, do you like it? Wives, how do you feel about it? What should a wife do if a husband is about to make what she thinks is an obviously poor decision that will affect her negatively, and it might affect their kids negatively? Just go with it and deal with the pain? Or should she disobey Paul’s teaching when her husband is going to make a poor or hurtful decision?

Christians through the ages have had major disagreements about this, and we still do today. My guess is that there are a variety of viewpoints about this among those who read this blog. So this week we’re going to try to understand what this passage means and how we can apply it to our lives.

First of all, we need to remember that Paul was not originally writing to us. As you have heard me say many times, though originally written to that group of Christians in the first century Roman town of Colosse, we read a letter like this as written to us by extension. What do I mean, “by extension?” I mean that Paul was writing principles that can be applied by extension to all Christians. Therefore, we first need to understand that original situation that motivated Paul to write, to make sure that we understand the principles correctly. Then and only then can we apply the principles to us.

Second, let’s try to first understand how the very first readers of this letter would have understood Paul’s teaching. To do that we need to understand something about the world of the First Century Greco-Roman world. That culture was highly patriarchal, meaning it was a man’s world. It was super rare for a woman to have a position of authority, to own property, or to be seen as equal to a man. Men ruled. In society and in families. When Paul writes, “Wives submit to your husbands,” he was saying what was the commonly held viewpoint of that culture. Basically, he is saying, “Wives, go with the flow.” He also said this was fitting to the Lord that Christian wives and Christian husbands were to follow societal standards for marriage relationships in their culture.

But how does that relate to us? Check back in to the next post, as we’ll continue seeking to understand what Paul meant.

How are you using your 168 hours per week? – Colossians 3:18-21, Preview

How do you spend your time in an average week? There are 168 hours in a week. Let’s tally up how we use those hours. I’m going to list averages, so you can adjust the numbers a bit to align with your life, as we humans have a lot of variety in our use of time. First of all, sleep. We sleep on average 7 hours per night. Add in naps, and that works out to about 50 hours per week. Second, eating. This one is probably all over the place. 21 meals, plus snacks…let’s go with 10 hours per week. Third, personal hygiene. Think bathroom tasks. Probably another 10 hours per week. Fourth, cleaning and chores, another 10. Fifth, school or work. We work about 8 hours per day, five days per week. Or if you are a student, you are in school about that much. That’s another 40 hours. Where’s our total so far? 120 hours. That leaves 48 hours for commuting, volunteering, church, family time and personal time that could include hobbies, exercise, media, etc. How do you spend that remaining 48 hours?

My point in asking us to examine how we use our time each week is that we rarely do this kind of self-evaluation. In other words, are you using your 168 hours the way you want to?

More than likely, you are in a routine, and we allow that routine to guide us week after week, month after month, year after year. When is the last time your evaluated your routines? While there may be needed course corrections in how we spend our time, my guess is that most of us have established routines because those routines are useful to us. Routines are not bad. In fact, we can rely on a routine for decades, and it may serve us quite well. Handled rightly, routine can actually be a very good thing. What we heard last week in our study through Colossians is this, “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Col. 3:17)

Are your routines in line with “do all in the name of Jesus”? Looking at your 168 hours per week, are you using them in line with “do all in the name of Jesus”?

As we continue our study in Colossians, the writer, Paul explains in more detail just how it is that we do all in the name of Jesus, especially looking at those places where we spend most of our time. At home and at work. Or for students, at school. And for retirees, where you volunteer.

We’re going to look at family this coming week, and then work (or school or volunteering) the next week. Check out Colossians 3:18-21 ahead of time, then I look forward to discussing this further with you on the blog.

4 principles to help us put on the clothing of peaceful love – Colossians 3:12-17, Part 5

As we conclude our study through Colossians 3:12-17, Paul has a very specific application for us, as we love one another. Look at verse 15: let peace rule. We put on the clothing of peace. We are members of one body, and we are called to peace. Then he mentions another piece of clothing: thankfulness. How does a church put on the clothing of peace and thankfulness in their love toward another? Paul gives four principles to help us.

First, in verse 16, we put on the clothing of peaceful love when the word of Christ dwells in us richly, or abundantly. How do we do this? When Paul wrote this, he was talking to people who did not have Bibles. So how did they do this? What “word of Christ” is he talking about? He is talking about teaching in letters like this one we’re studying, Colossians, which would become part of the library that we call the Bible. He is talking about the teaching of Jesus as communicated by Jesus himself and by the other apostles, or from the leaders in a church family. It is the teaching of the Kingdom of God, the teaching of the way of Jesus, how to live like he lived.

But how does that word dwell in us abundantly? Those first Christians couldn’t get out Bibles or apps on phones, so they had to use their minds to remember the teaching, and then think about how to apply that teaching to their lives. It was an intentional effort to think about the word of God and consider how to live it.

You and I have access to the Bible, so we have a wonderful privilege of studying it on our own and together. Read it, ponder it (which is the biblical idea of meditation, which is deep thinking on the teaching of the Bible, so that you can apply it to your life), memorize it, discuss it with others. This should not be a solo practice but a community collaborative practice. This is why small groups are important. In your classes and small groups, each and every one should be discussing how we live out the word of God in our actual lives.

Second Paul says we put on the clothing of peaceful love when we teach and admonish one another with wisdom. This is related to having the word of Christ dwell in us, but now Paul emphasizes teaching and admonishing. In Paul’s day, there was no Bible for people to dwell on, so teaching was the primary way the people were exposed to the word of Christ. Obviously, our situation is very different. We have tons of access to the word of God, to teaching of the word.

That’s why I think it is very important for us to focus on the concept of discipleship when we talk about teaching admonishing. These two ideas involve not just getting biblical content or information in our minds, but having a person and a group of people to help us, to mentor us, to teach us how to live the Kingdom way in our real lives. This is also why participating in regular weekly Christian community is vital. Participation on Sunday mornings and in small groups. We need admonishing. The word, “admonishing,” means, “to advise someone concerning the dangerous consequences of some happening or action.” (Louw & Nida) It is a warning. Paul is saying that when we gather, we open up the truth of our lives to one another, and we hear loving correction and warning from one another. This requires that we are present with one another. While I believe face to face in-person is best, other forms of communication can help. But if asked, we should all be able to list, “Here is who I confess to, this is when I confessed, and this is who confronts me.”

Third, we are put on the clothing of peaceful love when we sing with gratitude! Musical worship is important, I think, because it taps into our emotions in a unique way. Have you ever noticed that about music? It is a powerful force, isn’t it? Singing helps us set our hearts and minds on things above. This is one reason we include musical worship in our worship services each week. But you can do so throughout the week as well. Listen to worship when you drive. In your home, in your office. I use Spotify, and I love listening to music. Lately a lot of Johnny Cash. What a voice, and what a great story-teller. I don’t agree with some of the messages he communicates in his songs, but I find him to be a gritty, realistic inspiration. Compare music with other media. For example, I also love podcasts. But what I have noticed is that there is no end to podcasts, TV shows, movies, articles, books, content. In our world, it is literally impossible to keep up. That means we have to pick and choose what we fill our minds with. Let the word dwell in you abundantly, and sing with gratitude in your hearts.

Fourth, we put on the clothing of peaceful love when whatever we do, we do it in the name of Jesus. When I read this list in verse 16 I was tempted to think that Paul was talking about a worship service. Look at the first three he mentioned already: Bible, preaching, and singing. Three typical elements of a worship service, right?

But then in verse 17, Paul expands our view to all of life. We are not, therefore, to just relegate God or our spiritual lives to a church service, and check it off the list, as if that is all God cares about. Paul says that in whatever we do, whether it is the words we use or the deeds we do, we do it all in the name of Jesus. That’s at home, in front of our screens, at school, at work, on the sports field, in the neighborhood, in our car. Every single place we go. Every single thing we do, we make all of it an act of worship. No matter the time of day or the activity we’re involved in, we seek with our hearts and we focus with our minds the things above.

Are you actively intentionally putting on the clothes of peaceful love? Are there any that you know you need to work on adding to your life? Talk about it with someone. That’s where it starts! Admit what is lacking in life. Confess it to God. Then confess it to others. Repent, which means restoring relationship with God and others. It means a change. It means taking action to restore relationship. What action do you need to take?

You won’t be disappointed, because this set of clothing that God wants to give us is fabulous.

Clothe yourselves with forgiveness and love – Colossians 3:12-17, Part 4

*Photo by Felix Koutchinski on Unsplash*

A pastoral colleague of mine a few years ago felt convicted that his congregation needed to repent for how the church handled a difficult situation in their church family. The event took place at the beginning of the pastor’s tenure, and in fact was already ongoing before he was hired. When the difficult event actually took place, my pastor friend was essentially involved in a decision that had already been made before he started. Now years later, knowing the ongoing reverberations the event still had in the church family, he proposed a worship service of repentance. Numerous members of his congregation balked harshly at his suggestion, to the point that the church leadership team made the decision to postpone the worship service. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit in early 2020, leading to the quarantine, which made it impossible to hold the worship service. I confirmed with him this week that thus far they have not held the service of repentance because people were so upset. What would you do if you were that pastor?

We have been studying Colossians 3:12-17, where, in verse 12, Paul has listed numerous articles of “clothing” that Christians are to wear. Now he continues with more in verse 13. “Bear with others and forgive, just as God forgave you.” This is very similar to the items of clothing he already talked about. If we are people who have compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, we will bear with people and forgive them. Paul is not saying that is easy. He is simply saying that is what we do. It might mean we have to work hard at it. It might feel like a struggle, but that is what we do.

Husbands and wives, bear with each other and forgive. Parents and children, bear with each other and forgive. People in a church family, bear with each other and forgive. Consider the people in the church I mentioned above. People were so overcome by their emotion, they could not face the past. That is a sign of immaturity, and it is the opposite of, “bearing with one another, forgiving one another.”

My family and I have been a part of the family of Faith Church for long enough to have heard about some of the grievances of the past before we started here in 2002. Additionally I have to admit that sometimes over the past 19 years, people have had grievances with me, and I’ve had grievances with a few of them. It is hard to talk about, isn’t it? What about you and your church family?

Does it feel uncomfortable that I’m mentioning this? People leave churches because of grievances with one another or because of grievances with the pastor. It has happened my church too. We have not always practiced, “Bearing with and forgiving one another.” Brokenness in a church family has resulted. And it just might be due to us not wearing the clothing of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience Paul lists in verse 12.

I sometimes wonder if we ought to have a time of public confession to address these grievances. I sometimes wonder if hurts from the past linger; if the wounds have not been healed. I wonder if we have allowed immaturity to fester. Have we? The general human tendency is to sweep grievances under the rug, saying, “Time heals all wounds,” and while time definitely helps the emotions simmer down, it doesn’t automatically heal the wounds.

I ask that because of what Paul says next. Love! We put on the clothing of Love. Love is the epitome of how we are to relate with one another. This doesn’t mean that we all need to be best friends with one another. I don’t think it is physically possible to be best friends with more than a couple people, and we shouldn’t expect everyone to be best friends. But sometimes I hear people say that there are cliques in the church. In particular I hear that classes or small groups are cliques. I think we need to be cautious about making those kinds of claims. We can love one another and still have closer relationships with some people.

If we want to be welcoming in love, then we will need to be flexible with our relationships, opening up space in our hearts and minds for more people. That means relationships which were once very close might need to change in the level of their closeness. There is nothing wrong with relationships changing levels. How many of you are still as close with all your high school friends as you were in high school? When I was in high school I couldn’t imagine ever not being close with those people. Today, only a couple of them are distant acquaintances, and the rest of I have no contact with. My close friends now are people I didn’t know when I was in high school. Do I miss my high school friends? Of course. I made those relationships in some very formative years of my life, and I wish we could have remained as close as we were back then. For most people, though, we simply won’t be close with all our high school friends. That’s okay.

Of the eight guys in my wedding party, I only get together regularly with three of them. I miss them, and I wish I could be closer to all of them. Relationship levels change. That is okay.

What is not okay is when we do not show love to one another. Love is not emotional feeling, but instead love expresses itself in the actions of intentional care. Last week in a Sunday School class, the teacher was talking about 1^st Corinthians 3 and unity in the church. In nearly every Christian church in the USA there are people who are Republicans and Democrats, progressives and conservatives, old and young, men and women, and we should love one another despite our differences. Take a look back at verses 10-11. We are the people who have put on the new self, and we are part of a new family that is defined by Christ. We are in Christ. Nothing divides us, not ethnicity, not skin color, because we are all in Christ. And we love one another.

Clothe yourself with gentleness and patience – Colossians 3:12-17, Part 3

Last week we ordered a book on Amazon, and it was at our front porch in 24 hours. I often think about what my 16 year old self would think of the world in 2021. Much of the world is the same, but there are some notable differences in the past 30 years. One of those differences is the speed of delivery.

Back then you would order something from a mail-order catalogue by literally sending an order form in the mail, or maybe you would call in the order, and then you would do what? Wait. 6-8 weeks was a typical turnaround period to fill your order and get it mailed to you. I think back to the 1980s and early 1990s, and I wonder what could possibly take a company that long to fill an order? Now…? Amazon Prime can get just about anything you want to your doorstep in two days. Sometimes faster, especially now that their blue trucks are all over the place.

This week on the blog we are studying Colossians 3:12-17, a wonderful passage where the writer, the Apostle Paul, lists the new “clothes” that Christians are to put on. So far, he has talked about kindness, humility and compassion. Today we learn about gentleness and patience.

Take a look at the next word in Paul’s list of items we are to put on: “Clothe yourselves with gentleness.” This word, like the others, refers to both attitude and behavior. It is the opposite of harsh. It is speaking softly. Not raising one’s voice. Tone of voice is a powerful thing. In fact communication scientists tell us that the words we speak carry less significance than the non-verbals we use. Body language, facial expression, tone of voice. The classic example of this is something angrily yelling “I love you.” What message gets sent? It’s not love. In fact, the message that gets sent is the opposite of the words spoken! That’s how powerful tone can be. But it is not just words, gentleness should also be expressed in our behavior.

Paul is not saying that Christians should be mamby-pamby doormats. But we should avoid being harsh. Harsh tones and actions and volume can be manipulative and damaging. Some of you have learned how to use harshness. Some of you are experts are it, and you need to confess and repent. Instead, clothe yourselves with gentleness.

Finally, in the list in verse 12, Paul says, “Clothe yourselves with…patience.” The word Paul uses for patience is defined as “a state of emotional calm in the face of provocation or misfortune and without complaint or irritation—‘patience’.” (Louw & Nida)

Remember the story I started this blog post with? 6-8 weeks waiting for something? How many of us say, “I have no patience for that”? We say we have no patience for a great many things, don’t we? We are a culture of impatience. Especially because of the internet, we are used to having access to so much immediately. Want to know something? Just Google it, and you have the answer immediately. We have been trained to expect immediacy, and thus we have a really difficult time waiting. But we Christians are to be clothed with patience.

You know the saying about patience? If you pray for patience, get ready to deal with a situation that will force you to practice patience. Covid, for example, has been a massive test in patience. We’re about 18 months into a pandemic, and we are growing more and more frustrated with how long it is taking to get past it.

Here’s the thing about learning patience: patience is not just being forced to wait. Patience is learning the right way of waiting. It is waiting with gentleness, with calm trust in God, just like the definition of patience above. Patience is learning to wait without complaining, without irritation. How are you doing with patience?

Here’s another way to look at patience: a Christian need not be in a hurry. We are people who radically combat hurry in our lives. That’s a hard one for me. I started my doctoral program almost three years ago. The first two years were filled with classes, and now the past year has been focused on writing the dissertation. I so want to be done with my dissertation, and it feels like it is going way too slow. I need to clothe myself with patience.

How do you struggle with patience? What will it look like for you to clothe yourselves with patience.

In Colossians 3:12, patience is the last piece of clothing on Paul’s list of items we should clothe ourselves with. But he is not finished. Check back to the next post, as Paul has more qualities, clothes, we are to put on!

Clothe yourself with kindness and humility – Colossians 3:12-17, Part 2

How would you caption the photo above? “She got the whole world in her hands”? “She’s got a big head”? What I see is humility. I see a global focus, a focus that is bigger than oneself. I see a person that wants the world to be in the spotlight, not themself. (I wonder how the photographer would caption the photo?)

The photo illustrates our study this week in Colossians 3:12-17, where Paul says that Christians should put on the new clothing of the way of Jesus. Yesterday we looked at how he said, “Clothe yourselves with compassion.” He continues with more clothing.

Next Paul says, “Clothe yourselves with…kindness.” This is speaking and acting with kindness, which is quite similar to compassion, isn’t it? Kindness should show in our tone of voice, in our generosity, in our care for people. When Michelle and I were in Bible college, every year before the spring semester started, the whole student body would return to school a week early for a mission conference. For a couple years, one afternoon of the mission conference was devoted to a unique outreach opportunity. We would go out into the community to do random acts of kindness. Students would pay parking meters for people in the city. Clean toilets at restaurants. Collect trash. It was a fun time, but kindness is not to be random because God is not random. His kindness to us is absolutely intentional, purposeful. So we should practice consistent, intentional kindness toward others, even toward those who are difficult for us.

Then Paul says, “Clothe yourselves with…humility.” This is both a humble attitude and action. In my doctoral classes, it was fascinating how often humility came up in the readings we had to do. It is almost as if humility is in second place for the most important quality a Christian should have. What is in first place? Take a quick peek at verse 14. We’ll talk about that in one of the upcoming posts this week. Hint: it’s love! But humility is not far behind love in its value and impact. Humility is the opposite of arrogance. Remember that student who wrote that paper criticizing the denomination? I mentioned that person in the previous post. He left no room in his paper for the possibility that he might be wrong in any way. He comes across not only as a know-it-all, but as a person who does not give any impression that he is aware of other ways of thinking. Instead he communicates as if his view is the only view, as if it is so obvious that everyone already knows it and agrees with him. Does that describe you? To that Paul says, “Clothe yourselves with humility,” which means that you will leave room open for the possibility that you are wrong. Fight against arrogance in yourself. Even if you don’t believe you are wrong, humility says that you should make room for that possibility. We humans, almost by definition, are fallible, and we need to own that.

Years ago I was having a discussion with a person who was disgruntled about my preaching. They claimed that their perspective was 100% right, and what I had preached was wrong. So I responded asking them, “Are you telling me that there is no chance that your viewpoint is even slightly wrong?” They confirmed that they believed there was no possibility that they were wrong. I was astounded. We went back and forth about this, until finally the person begrudgingly admitted that maybe there was a 1% possibility they were wrong. When the meeting was over, we hugged, and I thought it finished well. They never came back to the church.

I think that person and others like them fear a wishy-washy faith. They would say, “Aren’t there foundational truths that we Christians hold to? Aren’t there times when it is important to say we are 100% committed to a particular belief or idea?” Of course. But I would suggest that those foundational views are very few and far between. A couple years ago, our local Ministerium felt we should create a document to us identify what we believed in common as Christian churches of many different denominations. We kept the document purposefully very short, trying to focus on the absolute essentials that all Christians believe, such as the Apostle’s Creed. But this clothing of humility reminds that even when it comes to those foundational beliefs, we are called to hold them with a humble attitude and tone.

What can be so difficult is when people elevate the non-essentials to the level of essentials. Or when there are disagreements in a church family. Or in any family or workplace. We are to be people who hold our opinions with humility, not with arrogance. What do we do about that?

Check back in to the next post, as the next item of clothing Paul says we should put on will help us know how to handle differences of opinion!

Clothe yourselves with compassion – Colossians 3:12-17, Part 1

*Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash*

“Can you wash my jeans?”

My daughter was asking a normal question, except that it was 9pm, and she needed the jeans first thing the next morning for her work as a dishwasher at a local cafe. I responded, “Can’t you just wear them again? They’re going to get dirty anyway.”

“No, dad!”

Think about how much time you spend doing laundry. In my house it can be five or six loads per week, and that is after our two adult sons have moved out. All that sorting, putting items in the washer, then the dryer, then folding, then putting away. Over and over and over, week after week. Hours upon hours of our lives spent working to clean our clothing. Thank goodness we don’t have to do it by hand. If you think getting clean clothing is a lot of work now, imagine how much work it could be without washers and driers. Clean clothing is worth the work, though! As much as we can grumble and complain about it, and as much as we might be tempted to just keep wearing dirty clothes, most of us would agree that putting on clean clothing is great. They feel great. They look great. They smell great. I don’t blame my daughter for wanting clean jeans.

In our continuing series through Colossians, Paul is talking about laundry, but not undergarments or pants and shirts. There is another kind of clean living that is vital for us, Paul says. Turn to Colossians 3:12-17.

Paul starts this passage with the word, “Therefore,” meaning that something he said before is the rationale for what he is about to say now. What did he say before? In chapter 3:1-4 (see the blog series on that section starting here), he taught that we Christians identify ourselves as people who are raised with Christ. Our old life is dead, and we have new life in Christ. So we actively focus our hearts and minds on things above, which means we live the new life of Christ here and now, and we have the hope of eternal life with him. How do we live that new life? In verses 5-11 (see that series starting here), he began to talk about laundry as a metaphor to help us think about how to live that new life. Last week was part one, take off the dirty clothes, which means that followers of Jesus remove from their lives the actions and attitudes of the sinful nature.

This week is part two, put on the new clean clothes, which Paul first hinted at in verse 10. “You have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator.” What Paul meant is that a renovation is taking place. Our lives are being renewed in knowledge. We are learning a new way to live, and it is a very specific way of life. We don’t get to decide what the new way of life will look like. Paul says that we are learning the way of life that is in the image of our Creator. Our new life will look increasingly more like the way the Jesus lived. And furthermore, look at verse 11, where he describes how, through Christ, a new community is formed. No longer do ethnicities or nationalities or skin color divide us. But in Christ we are a new community that is living the new way, taking off the old dirty clothes and putting on the new clothes. Let’s read what he has to say about this. Read Colossians 3:12-17.

In verse 12 Paul describes the people who are a part of this new community. They are God’s chosen, holy and dearly loved. Clearly, God has done the work of making this new community possible because he loves us and wants us to be holy. That is a call back to what Paul said in chapter 1, where he called Christians holy, saints. That might be confusing, because you and I well know that we don’t act holy all the time.

You can see the connection, then, with what Paul is talking about in chapter 3. We are to pursue holiness, because we died to the old way of life, and we are alive in Christ to his new way. Therefore, we not only take off the dirty old clothes of the sinful nature, but we also put on the new clothes. Now Paul is going to talk about what it means to put on the clean clothes.

What we find in verse 12 is another imperative, a command, “Put on clothing.” What clothing? Paul writes a list of the clothing we are to wear. On the blog this week, we’ll look at each word he uses to describe it:

First, he says, “Clothe yourselves with…intestines.” Intestines? What??? Don’t see that on the list, do you? It’s there…kind of. You know how we use the word “heart” to refer to emotion, especially to the feeling of love? When we say, “I love them with all my heart,” we are not referring to the actual blood-pumping organ in our chest. In the Greco-Roman era during which Paul wrote this letter almost 2000 years ago, the intestines were used figuratively as a place where you would feel things deeply.

That word, the place of inner feelings, is connected to the next word, compassion. In the New International Version, you don’t really see the emphasis Paul is making. The New American Standard is closer, “clothe yourselves with a heart of compassion.” But as I said, Paul doesn’t use the word for heart. He uses the word for intestines. Literally Paul writes, “clothe yourselves with the intestines of compassion,” or “bowels of mercy” (King James Version). Paul is saying, “Clothe yourself with an ability to feel deep compassion.” We Christians are to be compassionate.

It seems to me that some people are more naturally compassionate than others. For some of you, compassion and mercy just flow out. For others of you, your personality has a harder time with that. Think about teachers you’ve had over the years. Some were hard core, you get what you get and you don’t get upset. You failed the test. That’s it. Done. Then there were the ones who were ready and willing to give second chances. Grade on the curve.

Christians are to clothe themselves with compassion and mercy, keeping in mind the astounding compassion and mercy that God showed to us!

But what if you are thinking, “Yeah, but when you have compassion and give people mercy, they don’t learn from their mistakes.” Really? Is that true in every instance? “Show no mercy” is always best? No. Thank God that he is a God of mercy, and we, too, are to be people clothed with mercy and compassion.

I will admit, though, that sometimes it is hard to have compassion on people. In my volunteer role in the denomination, I direct the EC Church’s Institute for Christian Leadership, a program of 12 courses, a person can finish in three years. Anyone can take the classes. It’s kind of like a community college for studying the Bible and ministry. We also ask pastors who do not want to get ordained to complete that program. This past week, I was involved in a conversation about one of our pastors who wrote a paper for a class, and the paper criticized the denomination’s approach to the spiritual gifts Paul writes about in Ephesians 4. While I disagreed with his interpretation of Scripture, I support his right to have an opinion that is different from mine. What I take issue with is his tone and attitude. In my opinion, this wasn’t the first time this pastor has expressed himself in a condescending, arrogant, or pompous manner. Maybe you know a person like that. It is super-hard to have compassion, to have deep mercy on that kind of person. But we are called to clothe ourselves with compassion and mercy, even to people who are difficult for us.

That doesn’t mean that we let them get away with sin. Compassion is not excusing sin, as if our actions have no consequences. That is not what God did when he showed us compassion and mercy. In fact, Jesus himself took consequences upon himself, didn’t he? God also allows us to face the natural consequences of our choices.

That is where we can get confused in thinking about compassion. Compassion is having an attitude of graciousness and mercy to a person. Too often when people are difficult or frustrating, we write them off. We get sick of them. We use the phrase, “I’m done with them.” Compassion fights against those attitudes, but it does not preclude setting boundaries, or speaking the truth in love. Deep compassion is a tricky balance. But it is a must for Christians.

Why are people giving up on church? – Colossians 3:12-17, Preview

I recently read some articles (here and here) that surveyed people who stopped going to church. Their answers about why they chose to stop going to church revealed a trend. While there is no doubt that Jesus is a “stumbling block,” as his teaching will naturally turn some people away, the vast majority of the people who stop going to church do so because Christians in the church were acting unlike Jesus.

Over the years we’ve heard this before, right? One hundred years ago Ghandi, the famous leader of India, said, “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Take a moment and consider what Jesus must have been like. Even for atheists or believers in other faiths, it is hard to argue against the idea that Jesus was amazing. He was filled with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, love, peace, and truth. No wonder crowds numbering in the thousands flocked to hear him. I’m sure the miraculous healings also helped his popularity soar. But there is no doubt that Jesus was compelling. Not just the miracles, and not just the teaching, but how he lived his life was astounding. He was not in a hurry. He cared deeply about all people. He practiced what he preached. He lived a consistent life. He was hilarious, sincere, fun and serious when he needed to be. He was selfless.

Now consider what people see when they observe us. Can it be said that we are drawing people to Jesus because our lives look more and more like his? I’m not suggesting that you have to be perfectly like Jesus. I’m getting at what we’ve heard the Apostle Paul writing about in Colossians 3, that we are people who have been raised with Christ to new life, so we seek with our hearts and we ponder with our minds the way of the Jesus, which is sometimes called a Kingdom mindset. Last week with Colossians 3:5-11, we began a two-part miniseries in which Paul describes how to have that Kingdom mindset, using the metaphor of laundry. In that passage, part one was “take off the dirty clothes” of the old sinful nature. This week in part two is “put on the clean clothes” of the new way of Jesus.

I invite you to open a Bible to Colossians 3:12-17, read it and check back on Monday as we begin to discuss it.

How to change, when change seems impossible – Colossians 3:5-11, Part 5

Have you ever felt like the guy in the picture? He seems afraid to take off the mask. Changing ourselves can be very difficult, even when we want to change. But it is possible. Keep reading to discover how.

Today we conclude our study through Colossians 3:5-11, which we started here. In verse 10, Paul writes, with the old self torn off, we “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge of the image of its creator.” This is an image of something that is made better than it was before. This is “the new self which is made new in knowledge,” (L&N) and knowledge here is that which is definitely known. It is true. There is no room for debate. I’m not going to focus on putting on the new just yet. That will be part two which we will study further next week. This week we are focusing on taking off the old.

Notice how transformative this renewal is in verse 11. The implication is that the renewal that takes place, which Paul just mentioned in verse 10, leads to a knowledge and situation in which there is “neither Greek nor Jew, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, slave, free.” In Christ people of all ethnicities, skin colors are equally included, even those who are violent enemies, because Christ is all, and in all. This is a community of people who have taken off the old clothes.

Christians, we are people who live a different way, the way of Jesus. We are people who no longer live the old way. We take drastic action to remove the old way, the old clothes of sinful behavior and thoughts from our lives. In my own life, and in the lives of others I have observed or counseled, this process of removing the dirty clothes is rarely easy or quick.

First, it involves admitting you have sin in our life. Admit it to God. Admit to people close to you. And admit to people you have hurt. This is called confession. It is hard and humbling, but confession is the first step. It is the seeing that there are actually dirty clothes on us. In this process, we might not be aware of the dirty clothes, or we might actively be avoiding them, even though those close to us know we have a problem. We simply need honest, loving people to tell us the straight truth. Some of us are emotional infants, some of us are immature, though we might be old in human years. Some of us have cultivated for decades an echo chamber around us, people that tell us what we want to hear. We need people in our lives to speak truth to us, and that will require humility and teachability.

Second, do the hard work of changing your ways. Sometimes this happens cold turkey. But that is rare. God is more than capable to help us stop sinning cold turkey. Most often though, the Spirit helps us day by day, week by week, slowly make change. This might require getting professional therapy. It amazes me how many people know they have a problem, but are unwilling to get help. They are just fine allowing those dirty clothes to stay on. That is a sin of apathetic jaded immaturity. Instead we Christians are people who tear off those old clothes. The old ways likely won’t all come off at one time. But as our hearts desire to look more like Jesus, then our actions, our thoughts, our desires will change.

What do you need to tear off? No one has arrived at a place of perfect maturity yet. This is for anyone and everyone. We are all in need of God’s grace and all in need of his strength to do better in a new area. We all have things that need to be removed. How can this be more than a blog post, but an actual change of life for you?

Check in next week as we’ll talk about the new clothes we are replacing these old clothes with.